How Can Gulak Surround Himself in Time and Time Again?

Drew Gulak vs. Mansoor WWE Main Event 4/8/21 - GREAT

ER: Another great 5 minutes with these two, a feud I've been really enjoying. They have worked several TV matches already this year (the closest we'll get to an A-Train/Funaki or Kanyon/Orlando Jordan syndicated feud in 2021) and they've managed to work a different match every single time while doing not too obvious things to play off prior match experiences. Gulak is the guy always coming VERY close to stopping Mansoor's 40+ match winning streak and yet always finds his own shoulders on the mat for a split second longer than Mansoor's. Gulak doesn't so much find ways to lose, as Mansoor finds ways to win, and that's important to their dynamic. They know how to work a lot of interesting moments around quick armdrags, blocked armdrags (Gulak blocking an armdrag by dropping his weight or holding the ropes will always be a match highlight), shoulder holds and single leg takedowns. 

Gulak breaking a wristlock by doing a tumbling routine was a great way to keep a Regal/Danielson vibe on our syndicated programming, and I love how they essentially worked 5 minutes of just grabbing at body parts. Gulak stands on Mansoor's face, Mansoor gets a nice sunset flip with Gulak later catching Mansoor in one of his own after timing a Mansoor leapfrog, and the final exchanges were hot. They managed to work through the match with no actual striking taking place, going straight into a series of holds reversed into snug pinfalls, ending with Mansoor rolling a hiptoss through into a kind of backslide. Gulak's frustration is palpable, as they've done a good job having Mansoor go lossless in their series while making it seem like Gulak is always one step away from figuring out the puzzle, each time.  

Drew Gulak vs. Angel Garza WWE Main Event 4/15/21 - FUN

ER: Here's one for the Unexpected Miss category. Gulak and Garza had a series of short Raw matches around this time, all of which hinted at the potential of a great longer match. I didn't actually realize they HAD that longer match until I started catching up on Main Event, and...well the match completely fell apart in the second half and wasn't actually very good, it turns out. Couldn't have seen that one coming. And a major part of the problem WAS the length, as this felt like a match with several extra minutes. The first half was the best half, showing off Gulak's ability to base for fliers while neutralizing with his own monkey flip and forearm offense. He grinds into Garza and hits a huge running corner dropkick, then misses one later that hangs him by the knees in the corner (one leg over the top, one over the middle) until Garza drops him with a cool backcracker. I was into all of this. 

But there was always going to be an odd heel/heel thorn to get around, and since neither man attempted to get around that the match outright fell apart. I'm not sure who the technical "babyface" would have been here, but I suppose it would have been Gulak. Except Gulak approached this as a heel waiting to catch Garza's flash and turn it into a grounded submission, while Garza approached this as the cocky heel who was going to out flash Gulak, and neither man budged. The whole thing built into Garza going on a chain ending with a big nearfall superkick, and it all felt laid out like tecnico Gran Metalik outquicking the mat worker, and it felt like they were finally settling into sides. But the moment things fell apart was the moment Gulak caught a second Garza superkick and dropped into a brutal heel lock. Angel Garza took SO LONG to get to the ropes, and the spot just went on for a silent eternity. We had this never-ending moment of Gulak trapping a rudo in a very sick looking Gulock, right in the middle of the ring, and Garza inching his way for the ropes. Inch by inch by inch. It was brutally paced, and by the time it was broken everyone's timing was out the window. The quick nearfalls after were sloppy, Gulak missed a clothesline (that was supposed to miss) by 4 feet as Garza was somewhere else entirely, and we had two guys winding up on different pages after a terribly laid out submission. I didn't realize how much I liked their 2-3 minute matches until I saw what they did with 9 minutes. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DREW GULAK